Building a Growth Culture

How can I build and sustain a growth culture within my organization?

Growth – whether organic or acquisitive – is a prerequisite for top-tier performance over the long term, but it's hard to find and even harder to sustain profitably. Organizations that succeed establish a growth culture in which managers are constantly looking for and evaluating new opportunities – new markets to enter, new customers to approach, new products to create, new targets to acquire – all with an eye toward value creation.

To develop this organizational growth capability, leaders should:

Challenge the enterprise not only to grow, but to do so profitably

Champion the development of deep customer insight to identify headroom for growth in new and existing customers and markets

Establish a climate that encourages innovation, risk-taking and prioritization

Continuously screen chosen markets for acquisition opportunities that will realize their strategies faster than organic growth alone can

Have the conviction to walk away from deals from which they cannot comfortably create value for customers and the enterprise